2085

by Alejandro Volnié

  “Awesome, but, how will I take this apparatus with me without being obvious?”

  “Simple, it is mounted within a common wallet. It will be enough to hold it open as information crosses the screen. Now we will turn to the testing area again, where you will begin practice with one of the devices available for training. When you get to feel comfortable with this one, we will try with the one you will be carrying during the mission. The only difference between them is that the first one is rigidly assembled, while in the second one all the elements that stand out are foldable.”

  “I understand. Then I must bring the information back with me.”

  “No. As soon as you have obtained it you will assemble the optical intercom to the optical storage system’s outlet and pass along the information. This will allow us to confirm that your escape route is free and will guarantee that you make it back to us. If you fail to return, the information that obtained by you will lose much of its value because if the enemy comes to know that it is in our possession, they will alter their tactical plans immediately. We need you back alive.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  “Right. We must finish your training in the instrument’s area today, so this evening’s program will be long. You will practice with me until the time of your next meal, and when you return, you will stay practicing until you have achieved to reliably copy and transmit with this equipment. From tomorrow you will show up at Control’s office to train in other skills.”

  At this time he came into account of the great value that the Bureau of Intelligence granted him. His mission was truly important for the safety of millions of people. This fact alone was making him begin to feel as an actual member of the free world. He had finally understood the meaning of the phrase said to him days before: “To gain your freedom.”

  19

  The discussion they were holding on the details of the mission had marched without incidents, though it had taken longer than expected.

  The group inside the office had assembled since seven in the morning. They were trying to establish the entry and escape routes, and the most appropriate transport methods to achieve such a purpose.

  Guide intended to make the most of the journey through hostile territory on horseback, arguing that live animals were easily mistaken for the native fauna of the forests they would cross. This would make them lose a couple of days compared to traveling by some mechanized transport, but the safety of the trip would loosely pay the cost of their delay. Electronic surveillance of this territory was a common and continuous practice, although relatively inaccurate because it was made from satellites, which made it difficult to tell a wild animal of great size from a horse and its rider.

  The main argument that Control had against this method was the limited experience that Mole seemed to have horse-riding, even though in his defense he had claimed to have practiced recreational rides in his early years as a hiker.

  They finally decided to apply him a practical test to determine whether such an election would not put at risk the results. As the time of his next appointment at the cafeteria was close, the riding session was scheduled for eleven o'clock this morning; by then Mole should have fulfilled his prior commitment.

  Inside the cafeteria his dreaded antagonist awaited. He did not know what to expect from him this morning, though he knew that, in any case, he was at his mercy.

  He walked steadily to him, greeted with a nod and took the tray already in the cook’s hands. The gross character was just looking at him, fixedly and expressionless, firmly holding the edge of the tray so that he would be forced to release it with a yank. The inertia of this movement caused part of the food to spill. He felt that he was about to lose his poise, but making an effort he recomposed his posture and so he walked to a remote table to comply with the mandatory meal.

  He could not understand the aversion that the peculiar character felt towards him, but certainly he had managed to spread it back, so that the feeling had become mutual. The two times per day that he was meant to show alone in the premises were becoming a source of anxiety. Only at lunchtime, when the cafeteria was full, he felt protected. His annoyance had reached such a point that, without being aware of it, he had begun to plot revenge.

  Lost in thought he ended with this morning’s serving and went to the door, where Guide was already waiting behind the wheel of an off-road car; beside him was Control. He did not need to be invited. As he noticed their presence he jumped to the backseat. They immediately set off.

  The ten minute ride turned out to be enlightening. They went through the training camp to the opposite end, giving him an opportunity to see the facilities intended for the practice and refinement of the various disciplines that regular recruits had to learn. When he got to see the large number of cadets undergoing the tortures of training, all of them looking exhausted and covered in mud, he felt fortunate to have been admitted as a special recruit. He would be in the field of action in just a few days, while those would still continue suffering the afflictions of military training for a long time.

  The vehicle stopped by the stables. There they set foot to the ground. They walked a few yards to where the stable boy was holding a small height horse by the reins. This sorrel only lost its color in the white that painted its front legs above the hooves, and was behaving peaceful while fanning the tail to keep away the flies hovering over its hindquarters.

  Behind the horse stretched the ring where he would make his test as a rider. Guide invited him to begin:

  “The beast is all yours. Show us what you got.”

  Not saying a word he took over the reins that the boy had been holding. He passed them over the head of the horse. He stood on the left side of his ride and lifted his foot to reach the stirrup. With a single drive he went up the horse to end sitting on the light saddle, then he gently stung in the flanks of the animal, which did not hesitate to get going. He led him into the riding ring and gave a full turn slowly. As he passed again by the gate he stung with his heels, changing the pace into a smooth trot. One more turn and the horse changed to canter, and it kept like this for several minutes, until finally stopping at the starting point.

  “Well?” he asked smiling. Have I passed the test?”

  “It’s a good start,” Control replied. “We will schedule two hours of riding every morning to get you fit and feeling confident. We will start right now. The coming days Guide will bring you here as soon as it has dawned. Set aside bathing for your return, we do not want horse smell among us.”

  Then she went to Guide:

  “To ride! I’ll be back for you in two hours.”

  As she drove away, the stable boy brought one more horse, of a similar height but with its hair rather brown. This time he gave the reins to the agent that was still on his feet.

  “Get acquainted with your partner,” he said to Mole, “it will be taking you into and back from our mission. You may have noticed the small height of these animals. I have chosen them because their size is closer to that of the deer that roam the forest and this makes our chances of passing unnoticed better.”

  “I see. Also those of keeping alive if we fall,” he added laughing.

  “Let’s go. These laps you have just done were nothing at all. We will go up the mountain to see how you behave. Follow me!”

  They started with a calm step, which after a few minutes turned into a canter, and they kept this way until reaching sloping ground. The journey took them just over the two hours scheduled.

  When they finally dismounted Guide still looked fresh, as if he had not made any effort at all, while the untrained rider at his side was sore and tired, holding his belly around his liver while failing to walk upright.

  “I’m afraid you must go to the doctor before proceeding. Truly, you are all out of shape.”

  A growl coming from the back of his throat was his only answer to Guide’s sarcastic comment. Walking hardly, he finally made it to the vehicle where Control awaited already and collapsed on
the back seat.

  “How did the ride fit our star?” she asked cheerfully.

  “He is a regular centaur,” answered Guide in an amused tone. “In a few days I won’t be able to catch on him.”

  “I see. This is good news.”

  The sound of the wheels skidding when braking on the gravel road in front of the clinic’s door brought the trip to an end. The uncomfortable position that he had been forced to keep on the backseat, tilted to one side as he leaned against one of the doors, had added to his discomfort.

  When he managed to stand up he had to shuffle his feet to walk. He painfully went the short stretch to the main entrance of the building and opened the door. After the lonesome desk in the lobby a fleshy woman, middle-aged and unsmiling, was wearing the white uniform characteristic to the field’s personnel. As she felt the one coming in she raised her eyes from the papers on top to look at him.

  The awkward walking of the man coming in let her realize the nature of his malaise, yet she asked:

  “What have you been doing to end up in such a condition?”

  “Horseback riding,” he answered plainly.

  “Go to the first room after the door. I will be with you in a minute,” she said while pointing towards the corridor behind her.

  When she met him, he felt the need to explain the nature of the problem:

  “I have ridden for more than two hours today, and I am supposed to do the same each of the next few days; however, I am not even able to sit on a chair at the moment, can you do something for me?”

  “Of course. It will be easier than it seems. After one hour you will not remember having felt bad. Uncover you torso, take off your pants and lie on the plate. We will apply some electrodes and you will drink this,” she said as she mixed some liquids in a glass. “It always works.”

  “I hope so, or I will not be able to ride in several days.”

  The woman said no more. She handed him the glass with the mixture. Then she began to stick electrodes all across his battered body.”

  As soon as she had finished placing on him the small bright pieces, she turned to the console beside the hard metal plate where the beat-up rider was lying and turned it on.

  The coldness of the bed pierced through the thin sheet that served as the only cover to the surface, giving him goose bumps, and the touch of the hard surface was causing him pain, especially in his worn out members.

  But relief came quickly. Just a few seconds after the equipment had been turned on he started to feel how it was relaxing each of his muscles.

  The session needed not to last more than ten minutes. The woman, who had left the room as soon as the process had begun, came back to disconnect the miraculous equipment. The patient rose from the plate nimbly. Then he stood up effortlessly. Only a slight pain persisted there where his body had repeatedly hit the saddle during the ride. This he let the nurse know, but she merely advised him to use a cushion the next time, until his body had gotten used to the constant pounding on this region of his anatomy that horse-riding involved.

  The feeling of well-being that the treatment had brought him caused the agent to heartily thank the woman, so he went into an intricate speech that for a moment got to seem endless. As an answer she plainly said:

  “See you again tomorrow. I am guessing you will not get used to such an exercise before three or four days.”

  As he was walking towards the exit he was trying to find an explanation for the dry attitude of her benefactor. It seemed that custom had made her become unaware that the relief she provided to her patients was in fact a priceless gift. Instead, it seemed that to her this was just one of many tasks she was used to run every day, without stopping to consider the great value of her work.

  The vehicle in which he had come to the clinic had left once he had stepped off. The building that housed Control’s office was about 600 yards away. As he started to walk the treatment was still having effect, and it went on to the point that he was feeling totally healed when he reached his destination.

  Control received him friendly:

  “I see you have healed quickly.”

  “It’s amazing what they have done with me,” he said as he settled into a chair at the desk.

  “Don’t sit. You are late for lunch.”

  The bustle of the last few hours had made him forget the diet to which he was obliged. He had no hunger at that time, but he had to meet the five foods he had been scheduled per day. At least, this time the cafeteria would be crowded and he would avoid another unpleasant encounter with the cook.

  “We will meet here in 45 minutes,” the woman finished.

  He nodded resignedly. Then he left the building to carry out his obligation.

  20

  This afternoon’s meeting was intended to agree on the details of the trip to the enemy-controlled territory.

  The route chosen by Guide would go along a number of paths parallel to that used by him to escape at first, but a few miles further north. They would go across an uninhabited area, visited only by hunters during the autumn. The odds of meeting someone on the way were almost none. Their goal was to get through that section of forest, more than a hundred miles wide, in just two days. The starting point for their long ride would be precisely the community where the farmer had received him on arrival, which somehow was making him feel calm. For some reason, not obvious to him, he felt an affinity for the place; maybe because it had been there where he first had come to feel free from the emotional burden that his decision to defect had brought on him. Or it could be because the kindness of the family that hosted and protected him had been a new and unexpected experience. The fact was that it had been there where he actually had come to see a part of human behavior that in the place he came from one could not find anymore. Either way, he considered a good omen to start the upcoming adventure from this point.

  Once they had reached the mining community where the train had left him in his escape trip, they should use this same method of transportation to travel to the big city. From that point the real expert would be him instead of Guide because it was him indeed who had lived his entire life in this part of the world and thus he was better acquainted with the environment.

  The rest of the day was spent in choosing each piece of equipment and deciding about each procedure to achieve success in this first stage, looking for the highest degree of certainty for the outcome. Amid the endless discussions that were required to get each consensus they reached the time of calling the day off.

  He just had to meet his following stop at the cafeteria to earn the right to go back to his room. Weariness had overcome him unexpectedly. For someone more experienced this would have been one of the expected consequences after the healing session in the clinic a few hours before. He knew he should take advantage of his resting time because next day’s program would call for more of the same.

  Guide’s voice calling him behind the closed door woke him up. The clock was showing 5:15 in the morning and he was still asleep. He had been told that the man would be coming at dawn, for which there was still missing over one hour. As he was delaying to get up, his visitor opened the door and shook him as he said:

  “Come on! Today we will ride for a while in the dark to start getting used to it. I have been meditating on our itinerary and I have come to the conclusion that we should make the road at night, so you better get used to ride the trails in low light.”

  The voice that came from his throat sounded far from clear when he answered:

  “You did not warn me you would be coming this early.”

  “Never mind. Dress up soon, you can clean up when you get back.”

  He turned the light on and reached for the same uniform he had worn the day before, which still gave off a musky smell. He dressed clumsily and took his pillow from the bed. When Guide noticed this he had to ask:

  “And that pillow?”

  “Nurse’s recommendation. She told me to use a cushion to ride and this is the only one avai
lable. My muscle pain she has healed alright, but I still have one there where the saddle hits that I have not entirely overcome, so I will take her advice this time.”

  Guide could not help but chuckle as he encouraged him:

  “Come on! It’s getting late and I have something to show yet.”

  They went to the car parked in front of the entrance. On his seat there were some strange devices. Seeing them, curiosity made him ask:

  “What are these things?”

  “It’s exactly what I intend to show you. These are night vision devices.”

  “But it was said that we would not use any device operated by any power source.”

  “Indeed, that is what we agreed. However, these are of a very advanced making. The light amplifier works using body heat, so while they do not get too cold they will work perfectly, and if the night cools, then we will cover our heads to keep warm. Simple as that.”

  “This I need to see.”

  “And you will.”

  By the stables the horses were waiting already. The stable boy was sitting on the fence of the riding ring, covered from the cool of the morning with a thick jacket.

  As he saw them coming he jumped from his seat and approached.

  “Good afternoon,” greeted him Mole, how are our beasts this morning?”

  “Ready,” he answered.

  “What do you call my sorrel? Yesterday you did not tell me,” he said pointing to his horse.

  “28,” replied the boy. So we call it, by its registration number. We don’t grow fond of these animals because they often leave on missions from which we don’t see them back.”

  “And the brown one?”

  “16,” he said flatly.